i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance," and remember, you can't take it with you. >> two proud texans with a passion for old west guns, guts, and glory. >> i do see bullet holes. >> two strange inheritances -- one a lone star mystery... >> i'm roy roberson. >> i don't think he wanted anyone to have the combination, because that was his control over the pandora's box.sized challenge. >> this may be financially one of the dumbest things that i have ever done. >> together, can they make history? >> fire! [ explosion ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪

>> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm out in west texas, about 50 miles southwest of abilene. i'm here to hunt down two strange inheritances submitted by viewers whose stories converge into a single tale, a tale born straight out of the wild, wild west. >> my name is garland richards. in 1998, my dad passed away, left me and my siblings a large cattle ranch and a giant part of history. >> well, i got your letter, and i'm dying to learn more about your inheritance. what is this place? >> this is the richards ranch, and this is fort chadbourne. we will be glad to show you around. >> i'm ready. garland tells me fort chadbourne was built in 1852, during the great western expansion. [ gunfire, horses neighing ] the area had become a hotspot for violence between the pioneers and native indian tribes.

>> the u.s. military came in here and set up fort chadbourne as a buffer zone. >> and unmistakably, i do see bullet holes. >> there was a comanche warrior that was killed in this officers' quarters, and that's part of the history of fort chadbourne, also. >> during the fort's early years, a who's who of future confederate leaders walked through its doors. >> robert e. lee was through here on three different occasions. pickett. longstreet. >> after the civil war breaks out, hundreds of texas troops are mustered into the confederacy here. but by 1867, chadbourne is reoccupied by u.s. troops, many of whom leave their marks on its walls. garland, every one of these walls, they're covered with etchings. wow. "forsythe, october 1870." amazing. garland, if these walls could talk. imagine.

the u.s. cavalry uses the fort until 1873, when its buildings and surrounding lands are abandoned. four years later, garland's great-great grandmother snatches it up. >> they paid $500 gold for a section of land, which at that time was in the upper end of the land prices. >> garland's ancestors used some of the fort buildings for milking sheds, feed and saddle storage, and even houses. >> they overcame a lot of adversities to actually make it a successful ranch. and this has been handed down to us. >> so when do a handful of decaying government buildings become a historic treasure worth preserving? for fort chadbourne, it begins when young garland, the sixth generation of richards on this land, plays his first game of cowboys and indians among the ruins. heck of a playground. >> i shot a lot more indians out here than the cavalry did.

growing up, i thought everybody had a frontier fort in their backyard. >> but as garland gets older, he realizes how special this place is. and while watching the old fort crumble doesn't much bother the rest of garland's family, it crushes him. what are we talking about? one pebble at a time? >> no. whole sections of walls. [ thunder crashes ] >> during a heavy rainstorm in 1995, garland witnesses a column crumble off one of the old fort barrack walls. >> and i looked at this, and i thought, "that's gonna be the last time i see any of the rocks fall off of fort chadbourne." i didn't want my heritage destroyed by mother nature. >> knowing his father, conda odom richards, plans to divide up the ranch among his three children when he dies, garland asks for the slice with the ruins on it so he can fix up the fort. >> this may be financially one of the dumbest things that i have ever done.

>> when his father dies in 1998 at the age of 72, garland gets his wish -- 9,000 acres. his strange inheritance includes fort chadbourne, and he gets $125,000 to boot. garland's life's mission is now mapped out. he even convinces his bride, lana, to quit her job and come along for the ride. what do you say to your beautiful bride -- "i love you, sweetheart. we have a beautiful life ahead. oh, but i forgot to tell you -- we're going to rebuild a fort"? >> he didn't know how complicated it was gonna be. he had no clue. >> everybody said, "you cannot do this. you are not qualified to do this. >> but this stubborn rancher won't give up without a fight. and he'll get some help from an old friend over in abilene, texas. by the way, that man's heir, unbeknownst to garland, also wrote me about his strange inheritance. i'm back on the road after the

break. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. after a drought in 1883, texas made it illegal to carry what items? the answer in a moment. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose.

the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

this is where i trade andrs. manage my portfolio. since i added futures, i have access to the oil markets and gold markets. okay. i'm plugged into equities- trade confirmed- and i have global access 24/7. meaning i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do. visit learnfuturestoday.com to see what adding futures can do for you. ♪ >> so, after a drought in 1883, texas made it illegal to carry what items? it's "c," wire cutters.

the severe drought sparked a violent conflict between open-range cattlemen and ranchers, who used barbed wire to fence in their land. the law was on the books for over a century. >> hi there. back on the road again, heading out from garland richards' ranch. we'll return to his story. but first we want to pay a visit to another viewer, from abilene, texas. he wrote me about his strange inheritance. >> my name is roy roberson. when my father passed away, he left the family a mystery in the form of two safes that would take us years to open and unravel the mystery of what was inside. >> roy roberson's father, also named roy, was a civil engineer by trade. what do you remember most about your dad? >> i remember as a child thinking my dad was a little nerdy because he was an engineer. he was an outdoorsman. as i grew older, i realized that

those interests were quite sophisticated. >> such as roy sr.'s favorite hobby -- scouring the southwest for antique firearms. >> that was his passion, after his family. to him, that firearm represented american freedom. >> riding shotgun on many of these gun-hunting trips -- fellow history buff garland richards. >> i met roy at a gun show, and his interest in collecting guns and my interest tied us together as friends. >> roy sr. collects rare firearms for almost 50 years, but only he knows the true extent of his armory. >> he had everything in a couple of safes in the garage, but he never laid them out for anyone to see the scope of how many were actually there. >> this is the 1866 rifle. >> he most certainly never

shares the combination to those safes. >> that was his power, his control over the pandora's box. >> this is also a 66 carbine. >> roy sr. does give others a taste of his collection, though -- one gun at a time, maybe two if you're lucky. >> it was almost like a celebrity not conducting interviews. he never let them see the whole story. it was a mystery. >> for roy sr., every firearm he collects is a glimpse into the gun-toting frontier. >> one of the things my dad liked to do was he would pick up one of his favorites and say, "can you hear what this is saying to you?" >> "talk to me." >> "tell me your story." this particular one has seen some very hard use. that means this was carried on something -- most likely a saddle horn -- by someone for thousands of miles...

>> oh, my. >> ...protecting themselves from something. so the question is, what was the guy doing with this? was this a wagon train, cattle drive, a stagecoach? really tough times. difficult situations. life-and-death struggle. >> that love of relics that tells stories from the past drives the now-retired civil engineer to help his old pal garland restore fort chadbourne. >> once he saw that it represented a very important position in american history, he wanted to come every chance he got. >> garland certainly needs help. remember that $125,000 he inherited along with the fort? he blows through it faster than a texas twister. didn't you ever say, "i don't know how much more of this i can take"? >> yeah, there's a few times that i'm like, "where are we gonna get this money? where are we gonna get that

money?" >> was that sad for you and garland? >> oh, garland was devastated. >> but garland's not cowed, and neither is roy. but do the buckaroos have enough grit left in their boots? and why does it take so long for roy jr. to open roy sr.'s locked gun safes? >> i think that was one of his final practical jokes on me. >> next -- two strange inheritance stories come together. >> here's another quiz question for you. the .405 winchester was a favorite of which american president? the answer when we return. wow, x1 has netflix?

hey, drop a beat. ♪ show me orange is the new black ♪ ♪ wait, no, bloodline ♪ how about bojack, luke cage ♪ oh, dj tanner maybe show me lilyhammer ♪ ♪ stranger things, marseille, the fall ♪ ♪ in the same place as my basketball? ♪ ♪ narcos, fearless, cooked ♪ the crown, marco polo, lost and found ♪ ♪ grace and frankie, hemlock grove, season one of...! ♪ show me house of cards. finally, you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. >> so, the .405 winchester was a

favorite of which of these presidents? it's teddy roosevelt. the powerful rifle was one of t.r.'s favorites. after taking it on safari in africa, he called it "the medicine gun for lions." >> beautiful day. in the early 2000s, garland richards is trying to restore his strange inheritance, fort chadbourne, a frontier army outpost that has sat in ruins on his family's west texas land for over a century. >> i always describe it as jumping off in the raging water and swimming your way out. >> garland enlists the help of his old buddy roy roberson sr., but he needs money, too -- a lot more than he ever imagined. he applies for grants and gets $374,000 from a private foundation to stabilize several of the fort buildings. >> we hired several consultants. they would tell us that you

would have to tear these buildings down, put a foundation under them, and build these buildings back up. >> garland scoffs. he proposes an old west technique of braces and turnbuckles to stabilize and restore the walls. >> as a rancher, i've been taught all of my life to patch it up, make it last one more year. what we've done is taken that ranching theory and we've applied it to a historical site. and we did this without removing any stones from fort chadbourne. >> garland's dogged determination pays off. his strategy is a huge success, leading to the reconstruction of three of the oldest fort buildings. >> a lot of this was done because they told me that we could not do this. >> but not everything can be fixed with texas ingenuity. garland needs more money. thankfully, it's increasingly clear the site is of genuine

historical significance. >> we were left probably one of the most pristine archaeological sites of any of the frontier forts. >> that attracts an army of archaeology buffs, who discover thousands of artifacts. rattle off for me some of the items that were part of the artifacts that you inherited. >> gun parts. doll parts. surgical instruments. coins. >> some items link back to garland's own ancestors, like this plate fragment signed in gold by garland's great-grandmother. >> the shard was actually found under the floor in the archaeological excavation. this plate has been handed down through the family. >> it's beautiful. in total, the excavations uncover some 800,000 artifacts. the discoveries help garland raise $6 million more in private donations and grants. in total, eight fort buildings

are restored or stabilized. but garland's old friend roy doesn't live to see all this restoration. he dies in 2004 of coronary heart disease at the age of 66. he died young. >> yes. and i didn't really expect to lose my dad that young. but he made sure that every moment that we had him was great. >> it would be five years after roy sr.'s passing when garland and roy jr.'s strange inheritance stories really merge. in 2009, garland breaks ground on a new visitors center, and roy senses a way to make his late father a part of it. he's finally ready to open those safes his father left to the family. >> at that time, the fort museum was just being completed. so it made sense then to try to get into the safe and see what was there. >> if i had lost a relative who had a safe of anything and i didn't know exactly what was inside, i'd sort of want to look

right away. >> we were hesitant to get into dad's personal space. it felt like we were invading his privacy. >> coming up... were you surprised when you saw everything he had? >> i was astounded. >> what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. ♪ we asked people to write down the things they love to do most on these balloons. travel with my daughter. roller derby. ♪ now give up half of 'em. do i have to? this is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. but, if we start saving even just 1% more of our annual income... we could keep doing all the things we love. prudential. bring your challenges.

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> in 2009, five years after they inherited two locked gun safes, the family of roy roberson sr. decides it's finally time to solve the mystery inside the vault -- that is if his son, roy jr., can ever figure out the combinations on their father's gun safes. >> he came up with this combination that was very complicated. it was like a rubik's cube puzzle.

we didn't know how many rotations, and it was very easy to get the numbers out of order, and then he left out a few numbers. >> so, how long did it take? >> days. >> days to crack them open. >> i think that was one of his final practical jokes on me. >> what he finds inside is nothing to snicker at -- nearly 200 antique firearms, the most rare among them a complete collection of every historic winchester, the rifle that won the west -- short- and long-barrel models of each. >> it was almost like taking a sack of rare coins and realizing, "hey, wait a minute. every date is here and every mint is here." >> roy aims to put some of his dad's guns on display at fort chadbourne, which roy sr. had spent his later years helping to restore. but when word gets out to the gun-collecting community, the family has to rethink things. you knew those guns were valuable. >> yes. and i knew that a lot of people

wanted them. >> and is it also true that breaking up the collection and selling them individually could have yielded a huge payday? >> probably. that's what we were told by auction houses and people that called us. >> the family is suddenly between the horns of a dilemma. based on roy's research, the firearms could be worth as much as half a million dollars. he invites his father's old friend garland richards over to see his inheritance. were you surprised when you saw everything he had? >> i had seen one piece at a time. i had never seen it all in one place. i was astounded. >> garland wants roy sr.'s guns to be part of fort chadbourne, too, to sit on display alongside his own collection. >> i knew that what my collection lacked, his collection added to this would make a very nice timeline in a gun room. >> so he makes the family his best offer -- around $165,000.

though it's only about a third of what roy thinks they could make if they sell them piece by piece, the family takes the deal. >> the reality is he spent his whole life assembling that group of firearms, and so to disassemble them was very disrespectful, in our eyes. >> and so roy's complete collection of firearms lives in garland's now-finished visitors center that tells the tale of fort chadbourne and the texas frontier to 25,000 visitors a year. >> we tried to build this big enough to house all the artifacts and things from fort chadbourne. >> big enough for a stagecoach. is this real? >> big enough for a stagecoach. it is for real. >> and big enough for a texas-sized gun collection. >> i bet roy really would've liked to have seen it this way. >> roy would like where his guns are. >> this is exactly what dad would've wanted. it's on a property run and maintained by his best friend. and it's in a fort that the u.s.

army built and then discarded. so what could be better than that? >> of course, for garland richards, fort chadbourne is more than an old army fort. it's still the place that first unleashed his imagination while fighting indians on the frontier. you can tell he hasn't lost that childhood enthusiasm as he rolls up an antique cannon for my visit. this is a serious cannon. can you tell me about it? >> this is a model of an 1835 12-pounder mountain houser. this is the smallest of artillery pieces but a very, very powerful gun. it could fire a 12-pound shot about 1,000 yards. okay. your first command is "load." >> load. >> everything you see them doing right there is the same thing they did back in the 1800s. >> ready. fire! literally holy smokes. that was amazing.

>> the first time that we ever raised the flag in the middle of the parade ground, i realized, "this is the first time that the flag has been raised in over 125 years." i was overwhelmed. i'm a proud texan. i'm a proud american. and this is my contribution back to america. >> garland and roy loved collecting those old guns that won the west. but they never competed over a firearm. that's because garland favors single-shot rifles, while roy loved his winchester repeaters, those classic rifles used by ranchers and outlaws. two old buddies, their collections now displayed side by side. on that note, i learned something else on this trip to texas. the state motto is just one word -- "friendship."

i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> he was at the center of a scandal -- the national pastime, gambling, and gangsters. >> arnold rothstein gave them a little bit of money to, supposedly, throw the series. >> "shoeless" joe was arguably the best baseball player of all time. >> he's banned from the game... >> one weeping fan of his cried out, "say it isn't so!" >> ...and the fascination with his tale endures. >> shoeless joe's really part of pop culture. >> so why is his autograph one of the rarest in sports? >> he was virtually illiterate. >> he had a very hard time even writing an individual letter. >> he did. >> as far as we know it, there is only one known. >> one? >> just one. >> and it's this woman's strange inheritance. >> it started to dawn on me that this is a lot of money we're

talking about. >> this is a biggie -- 1911 "shoeless" joe jackson signed photograph. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> hi. i'm jamie colby, and i'm heading along the shores of lake erie in cleveland, ohio. today i'm meeting a woman who inherited a rare item that recalls the most notorious episode in baseball history -- an episode that's inspired books and movies and retains an air of mystery to this day. >> my name is sharon bowen. after my husband, bill, passed away, i started to receive lots of phone calls about a scrapbook that he had kept in a trunk in our bedroom. i knew very little about "shoeless" joe jackson, but now i do. >> bill and sharon bowen raise two children in a cleveland suburb. how long were you married? >> we were married 39 years. >> bill, a professional

fundraiser, works for local universities and the salvation army. he's a native clevelander and a baseball nut. >> this is bill, probably around 5 or 6. >> bill started collecting at a very early age. >> and never stops. card collecting becomes a family affair. >> did you do any collecting with him? >> that was my thing with him and with his father -- every saturday, going to baseball-card shows, just sitting around the kitchen table and looking at all the cards. >> through work, bill becomes friends with a retired professor who shares his passion for collecting. >> and one day, the -- the gentleman's wife said to him, "i have a book i bet you would love to see." >> boy, does he! this simple paper scrapbook holds a treasure trove of photographs from the 1911 spring training camp of the cleveland naps, now called the indians. >> she inherited this book from her father, and her father received it as a gift from his

friend frank smith. >> frank smith was a photographer for the cleveland plain dealer. that spring, he takes action shots of established stars like nap lajoie, christy mathewson, and a cleveland rookie named joseph jefferson jackson. >> hi, joe. >> good to see you. >> so great to see you. to learn more about that rookie, i pay a visit to baseball memorabilia maven joe orlando. when the names of greats come up, is shoeless joe still in that category? >> babe ruth, who most people consider to be the greatest player who ever lived, patterned his own swing after joe jackson's. >> safe! >> if that doesn't tell you what type of a hitter joe jackson was, i don't know what -- what will. >> joe jackson is born in pickens county, south carolina, in 1887. what kind of family did he come from? >> well, he came from humble beginnings. he worked at a textile mill as a

teenager, as a mill hand, and he was virtually illiterate for the remainder of his life. >> but on the diamond, he's a true phenom. at the age of 13, he stars on the cotton mill's team and picks up a lifelong nickname. >> legend has it that while he was a teenager playing in a mill game, his cleats were bothering him so much that he took his cleats off and played the rest of the game without shoes, and one of the fans started to heckle him and call him a shoeless son of a gun. >> "shoeless" joe's career takes off like a blue-streak line drive. in 1908, he bats .346 for a minor league team in greenville. in 1911, he's ready to move up. >> it was his first full season in the majors with the cleveland naps. >> and photog frank smith documents his arrival in "the bigs." [ cheers and applause ] >> he batted .408, which still stands as a record for a rookie. [ bat cracking ]

>> safe! >> he may be a whiz on the field, but traveling with his teammates, joe can't even read a menu. >> if they were in a restaurant, he'd listen to what everyone else ordered and simply base his order off of that. >> he needs help just writing his own name, so he rarely signs anything but legal documents. of course, you don't need to read or write to hit a fastball. in 1915, joe moves up another notch when he's traded to the chicago white sox. >> chicago was a very good team, and he helped them win a world series in the 1917 season. >> they may have been good, but they were not happy. >> charles comiskey, who was the owner of the white sox at the time, was known as being extremely frugal. >> in 1919, the sox again capture the american league pennant and are favored to beat the cincinnati reds in the world series. but many players feel comiskey is cheating them of their bonuses.

the friction creates an opportunity for a new york gangster named arnold rothstein, who runs a sports-betting racket. >> arnold rothstein got to some of the players of the chicago white sox and gave them a little bit of money under the table to supposedly throw the series. >> when the sox lose the series 5 games to 3, rothstein makes a bundle. the "black sox" scandal erupts. a grand jury indicts shoeless joe and seven other players for conspiracy. >> several of those teammates confessed that they were part of fixing the series and implicated joe jackson. >> testimony of pitcher edward cicotte is said to have been most incriminating evidence. >> prompted by comiskey's lawyer, jackson admits taking $5,000 from teammate lefty williams, but he denies throwing the series. outside the courtroom, a young sox fan supposedly confronts his hero. "say it ain't so, joe!" he says.

why would a player like shoeless joe throw a game, a world series game? >> well, the reality is that you and i will never know, with 100% certainty, the truth. joe jackson was virtually illiterate, so when he was confessing, did he comprehend what he was doing? >> based on the stats, it didn't look like joe jackson had anything to do with the plot. he batted .375, hit a home run, and had 6 rbis. >> although a jury acquits all eight "black sox" players, baseball commissioner judge kenesaw mountain landis bans them from the game. shoeless joe takes his trophies home and never again sets foot on a big league diamond. he lives in relative obscurity in south carolina until his death in 1951. since then, few baseball stories have captured the imagination more than shoeless joe's.

being here at the baseball field, it's the perfect place to ask you about him as a legend. >> we have movies such as "field of dreams," "eight men out," that continue to bring shoeless joe in front of new fans, new moviegoers. >> and that legend is what drives cleveland baseball collector bill bowen to covet the book of frank smith photos, which his friend showed him in 2006. take me back to the moment he first told you he wanted to buy the scrapbook. >> he came home and said, "you know, i'm gonna buy this book." >> the price -- $15,000. the missus is not amused. >> i said, "absolutely not. who would spend that kind of money for a paper scrapbook filled with old pictures?" >> your husband the baseball nut, that's who! and that's next. >> but first, our... two of these actors played

"shoeless" joe jackson in hollywood movies. which one didn't? the answer in a moment. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine.

the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

>> so, which actor didn't play shoeless joe? the answer is... liotta played him in "field of dreams," sweeney in "eight men out," but redford's character in "the natural" was only based on shoeless joe.

>> in early 2010, baseball fanatic bill bowen tries to convince his wife to let him buy this 100-year-old scrapbook of vintage baseball players. in it is an autographed picture of the legendary "shoeless" joe jackson. the asking price -- $15,000. >> and that's when i said, "no, absolutely not." >> bill buys it anyway, selling some of his other memorabilia to raise the cash. where did you keep it? >> it was just sitting in a trunk in our bedroom, handy, so he could pull it out and look at it and show it to people when they came. >> and sharon decides to stop giving her husband a hard time about it. really? you were that easy about it? >> i was easy, because life's too short, and -- and it proved to be true. >> in 2014, bill has a heart attack... and dies at the age of 67.

shortly after his death, baseball collectors begin calling his widow. >> we started to get some phone calls from people. did we still have the book? would we consider selling it? >> a family friend suggests they talk to heritage auctions in dallas. >> so my daughter took some pictures of the book... [ camera shutter clicking ] ...and e-mailed it to heritage, and they e-mailed her back in four minutes. >> four -- within four minutes, you heard from an auction house? >> mm-hmm. >> chris ivy specializes in baseball memorabilia. >> when something like this comes in, it's incredibly special. >> three days later, a heritage representative flies up from dallas. >> he starts flipping through it and says, "you didn't tell me that this guy was in here. you didn't tell me you had this autograph." >> but the real money shot is that autographed picture of shoeless joe. the bowen family sends the book to the auction house.

chris ivy believes the autographed joe jackson picture is one of a kind. but before it goes on the auction block, he has to make sure it's genuine. >> we don't sell any autographs without third-party authentication. so, obviously, that's a nerve-wracking prospect. >> and the authenticators have their doubts. how likely was it that it was legitimately signed by joe jackson? >> in my head, i'm thinking, "i'm sure you also have a bigfoot/loch ness monster dual-signed baseball coming behind that, as well." >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer in a moment.

>> ...which curved in to right-handers. it helped mathewson rack up a record 373 career wins. >> there's nothing like a day at the park -- our own field of dreams. >> that's right. >> to determine whether sharon bowen's strange inheritance -- this autographed picture of "shoeless" joe jackson -- is real, the auction house calls joe orlando, president of professional sports authenticator, in orange county, california. he's also a baseball nut. >> legend has it that shoeless joe could throw a ball 400 feet, so what you're looking at is probably a ball that would actually sail far over that scoreboard beyond the center-field fence. >> that's awesome. joe's job is to give buyers and auction houses an informed opinion on the legitimacy of sports memorabilia. >> it's our job to be skeptical

about everything. >> how elaborate is the process to authenticate something of this magnitude? >> well, that's where we're gonna head over to our offices and really give you an in-depth look at the process itself. >> it falls to psa's steve grad to determine whether the joe jackson signed photo is legit. steve, thank you so much for letting me come in. i am the most excited about this authentication part. for yet another baseball nut, it's the chance of a lifetime. >> there isn't a joe jackson photograph that i know of that's actually signed, and they're telling me it's got great provenance, great story. but i want to see that autograph first. >> steve has reason to be skeptical, and not just because jackson couldn't read or write. collecting autographs from ballplayers didn't become a fad until well after shoeless joe's career. signed photos from his era are very rare. confirming that the photo was actually printed in 1911 is psa's first challenge. what about the photograph itself?

did you have any concern about the paper? >> we have a photo expert, henry yee, and henry's really good with paper and photographs. he confirmed that, "well, this was used for a short period of time, but right during that period." he knew immediately. >> okay, the picture is legit, but how about that signature? >> so, this is joe jackson's last contract. this is 1920. >> remember, nobody has seen another autographed shoeless joe picture. but steve can compare the writing to various legal documents that the illiterate jackson did sign. >> through the years i've been able see a handful of joe jackson signatures we've deemed authentic, and i'm able to look at certain tendencies joe jackson has. so, that autograph has to talk to me. if you want to go ahead and put it in... >> we put a copy of the signed photo into this contraption, called a video spectral comparator. >> you'll see things you can't see with the naked eye... >> let's see. >> ...you could see with this. and here we go. i'm gonna drop the magnification to 8. >> it's very "csi." >> and we start to look at the formations here of the letters.

you can see where he's really -- he labored. >> he had a very hard time even writing an individual letter. >> he did. >> how do you distinguish the signature that we look at and the real deal? >> so, we take the photo back, and we take a look at the signature itself, okay? what's fascinating to me -- we're talking 1911, 1920. 9 years later. look how he comes up here to the "e," okay? and we're starting to see the same thing here again. >> a straight line from the "o" to the "e" in "joe." >> 1911 to 1920 -- you take a look, it's literally the same thing. >> with what percentage are you certain you have an authentic joe jackson signed photograph? >> 100%. i had, like, this eureka moment. and i was like, "bam! there it is! that's joe jackson." >> steve certifies the autographed shoeless joe picture and the entire 60-photo collection is real. >> it's one of the coolest things i've ever handled in my

entire life. >> even better news for the bowen family -- he grades the signature a 9 out of 10 in quality. he also rates the other signatures at either 9 or 10. after more than 100 years, the photos frank smith took at the cleveland naps spring training are about to make their public debut. >> it's also very exciting to reach out to the bowens and -- and let them know that we're gonna be able to sell it on their behalf. >> this is a biggie -- 1911 "shoeless" joe jackson signed photograph... >> yeah, live auction is always a lot of fun. >> beautiful. how 'bout it? >> $30,000. >> $30,000 now. >> it was very exciting. >> have you ever seen a photo like this? >> that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website...

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february 21, 2015. sharon bowen's family gathers for the auction of her strange inheritance... a 1911 scrapbook of signed photos of baseball greats. the crown jewel of the collection is the only known autographed photo of "shoeless" joe jackson, but the bowens soon learn the rest of the collection is plenty valuable, too. >> lot 53, the 1911 christy mathewson signed photo. have you ever seen a photo like this from mathewson? >> $30,000. >> $30,000. now $36,000. >> the scrapbook is broken into four lots for auction. >> $36,000. now to go to $38,000. >> i said to my children, "dad would have loved this." >> $60,000! >> and will said to me, "except, mom, dad would never have done it because he would have kept that book as long as he was alive." >> now it's a level playing field. >> my dad and i had been to so many sort of auctions like that, but never one of this magnitude. >> there are a few bidders in the room, but most are online and anonymous.

>> the christy mathewson photo, which had some very spirited bidding... >> $2,500 more to you, sir. they're gonna help you pay for it, i guess. >> ...and went well beyond its initial estimate. >> $77,500 once, twice. done! it's yours, $77,500. give him a hand. [ applause ] moving along, this is a biggie. >> next on the auction block, that signed photo of "shoeless" joe jackson, the only one known to exist. >> it was fun and bittersweet, because it meant the story was over for us. this piece of bill was leaving. >> probably read some press about this. absolutely pristine condition. >> it was the pride and joy of bill bowen's lifelong collection. >> let's start the bidding at... >> $110,000. >> $110,000. give me $120,000. >> and at that point, it started to dawn on me that this is a lot of money we're talking about. >> $120,000. now to go to $130,000. >> and i think at some point, my left knee started to buckle, just a little. >> i was very excited for -- for

sharon bowen and her family, as well. it speaks to her husband, bill bowen, that he had a great eye. >> now we got to $150,000. i need a buck and a half. $150,000 for the shoeless joe. $150,000. anyone else? done! $150,000! >> when the auction house commission is added, the joe jackson picture brings in $179,000. in the end, one anonymous bidder buys the whole collection. >> i thought -- you know, it's silly. they're not siblings, but, still, it made me happy that they stayed together. >> the scrapbook that bill bowen bought for $15,000 garners just over $300,000. not a bad return on investment... and a nice chunk of cash for his widow. >> he knew on some level that this would be a legacy to us and it would be security for me in my retirement and enable us to do some things for our children that he would want us to do.

>> in a bygone era, an enterprising photographer shoots a picture of an up-and-coming ballplayer and gets him to autograph it. the player sees stardom, then scandal, obscurity, then immortality, as the photo passes to a daughter, a friend, a co-worker, and, finally, a wife, once skeptical, now profoundly grateful that her husband had the sense, at least this once, not to listen to her. bill's daughter, meredith, told me that she has her own "field of dreams" vision of her father up in the baseball section of heaven, playing catch with "shoeless" joe. joe looks at him and smiles and says, "ain't it crazy? my signature on that old picture just got your wife a whole big pot of money." and just maybe bill is getting "shoeless" joe to explain exactly what happened back in chicago in 1919.

i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember -- you can't take it with you. [ bat cracks, crowd cheers ] >> a tv hitmaker loves animals. >> he turned that creativity on animal rights, and it was unbelievable. >> one dog he rescues is off-the-charts dangerous. >> if it's a scale from 1 to 10, columbo's a 12. >> when the hollywood owner dies, columbo becomes their strange -- and expensive -- inheritance. >> acupuncture for a dog? i know we're in los angeles, but really? [ dog growls ] >> is it all worth it? >> your kids could get hurt. you're willing to take the risk. >> we made a commitment to healing dogs and showing other families how to do it. >> welcome to the weird world of pet inheritance. >> so, are you leaving your home to the birds? [ bird squawks ]

i'm jamie colby, and, today, i'm in encino, california. will rogers once said, "if there are no dogs in heaven, then when i die, i want to go where they go." but when the owners go first, especially the rich or eccentric ones, it can make for one strange inheritance. >> my name is tyson kilmer. i'm an animal trainer. when one of my clients, sam simon, passed away in march of 2015, i inherited his dog, who is not exactly lassie, marmaduke, or any other lovably harmless pet you've seen on tv. >> hi, kilmers. i'm jamie. >> i'm tyson kilmer. this is my wife, alison. aliyah and tyler. >> how are you? >> i'm great! >> i heard your family has a living, breathing inheritance? >> indeed, we do. we have a cane corso that used to belong to the late, great sam simon.

>> sam simon -- even if you don't recognize the name, you surely know his work as co-developer, with matt groening, of that iconic and long-running tv show, "the simpsons." sam was born in 1955 and grew up in beverly hills, just down the street from groucho marx. after graduating from stanford university, sam catapults his way up in the tv business, becoming a showrunner in 1978 for the hit series "taxi," at the age of 23. >> sam was the youngest showrunner in the history of television, when he was a showrunner on "taxi." >> mark thompson is an l.a. radio host and a long-time friend of simon's. >> to describe him as highly intelligent would be to understate it in the extreme. >> sam works on "barney miller" and "cheers," before teaming up with matt groening on "the simpsons," which premieres on the fox network in 1989.

>> matt groening created these characters and this family, but the universe that the simpsons exist in -- the town, the nuclear power plant, mr. burns, all of these different characters... sam simon was the driving force behind that. >> but in 1993, after four trailblazing seasons, sam decides he wants a life outside of television. before quitting, he negotiates a deal giving him continuous credit as an executive producer and a share of the show's annual profit, to the tune of $30 million a year. sam, now twice divorced with no children, turns his energy to what becomes his calling in life -- saving animals, especially dogs. in 2002, at the cost of several million dollars, he creates this lavish, sprawling dog shelter in malibu. one of the neglected pooches that end up at sam's shelter is a 6-month old cane corso, also

known as an italian mastiff, a breed some people refer to as "a pit bull on steroids." the big canine is quickly deemed too aggressive to stay at the shelter. so sam takes him home and names him columbo, after the rumpled, trench-coat-wearing detective played by peter falk. >> he adored columbo, clearly. i think he was like an offspring almost. he was like a son. >> a son with a nasty disposition. within months, columbo attacks staff members on the simon estate. there are as many as eight biting incidents. he even goes after sam's buddy, howard stern. >> ok, guys, go play! [ dogs barking ] >> so, in 2011, sam contacts tyson kilmer, who has a reputation for working with dangerous breeds. his hollywood clientele includes rob lowe and mike tyson, but none impresses him like sam simon. >> the first meeting he had with sam, tyson came back and went, "i met my hero.

i met a guy that's doing way more than i am with animals." it was a bromance. >> alison kilmer is tyson's wife. >> was it more than just about the dog? >> oh, yeah. tyson knew right away that sam was someone that was gonna mentor him. >> still, tyson hesitates taking the columbo case. why? >> i had stopped working with that breed a few years prior, just because of the volatility and the liability issues around them. >> i'm sure that training aggressive dogs is dangerous. where is columbo on the scale? >> if it's a scale from 1 to 10, columbo's a 12. >> tyson says he makes an exception for columbo, when simon convinces him that health issues, like painful hip dysplasia, explain why he's such a bad dog. so, it's not just behavioral. it's also medicine? >> that's correct. >> simon's already paying for

the best veterinary medicine money can buy. among other things, columbo gets electromagnetic therapy and acupuncture. acupuncture for a dog? i know we're in los angeles, but really? >> this dog has endured so much pain in his legs that this is not some frivolous treatment. >> and the price tag for columbo's first-class care? >> columbo costs approximately $138,000 a year. >> that's a four-year college education. >> the reality is -- i didn't hire these folks. i was just asked to be present while these folks were working. and this work changed my perspective on this dog entirely. ready to go. >> tyson takes over the actual training, hooking up columbo with a partner to keep him in line. >> hey, jamie. i brought my friends. >> i see that, tyson. i hope they'll be my friends. >> they will be your friends. so, kasha's been the one to teach him how he should be responding and reacting in these encounters. >> she's a pit bull. >> she's a pit bull, yes, but she's very fabulously trained.

you want to give it a try? >> i'm willing to try. >> perfect. okay, so, let's start off by showing her a stay. point to the ground. tell her, "okay, down." >> okay, down, kasha. good girl, kasha. >> and now, this is how she smiles. so, it looks like kind of scary. >> oh! you get a rub on the belly! stay. tyson says his hard work and sam's money transform columbo into a loving and much-less-aggressive pet. so, the bottom line is -- you have rehabilitated this dog. >> i would say that this dog is living, at this point, within very acceptable margins for behavior and safety, as long as we continue to put the work in with him daily. >> it's late 2012, when, at 57, sam simon is diagnosed with colorectal cancer. the prognosis -- it's terminal. >> how did sam tell you he was sick? >> [ voice breaking ] he was just sick.

>> what happened? >> you know, he said, you know, "tyson, i'm dying." >> will sam's death sentence also be the end for columbo? >> i was asked to make sure that columbo was taken off the property immediately. >> immediately? >> yes. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. was it roy rogers' trigger... mr. ed... or seabiscuit? mr. ed... or seabiscuit? the answer when we return. this is your daughter. and she just got this. ooh boy. but, you've got hum. so you can set this. and if she drives like this, you can tell her to drive more like this. because you'll get this. you can even set boundaries for so if she should be here, but instead goes here, here, or here. you'll know.

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>> so, what stuffed horse fetched $266,000 at auction? it's "a," trigger, who belonged to roy rogers. >> with the help of his new friend and dog trainer tyson kilmer -- and a year and a half of intense training -- sam simon's rescued 140-pound cane corso is under control. so, you've given columbo a stay of execution. >> nobody else has been bitten, so the first part is amazing. secondly, he's a happier soul. >> but, in 2012, sam's diagnosis of stage-four cancer changes everything. after being told he has only

months to live, "the simpsons" co-developer launches a campaign to save as many animals as he can before he's gone. he brings tyson along for the ride. >> as his body began to fail him, he would be jumping on a learjet and flying off, so somebody had to watch out for him. >> here was sam simon ready to do all of these things that seem unthinkable. he rescued all of these bears from roadside circuses. he shut down a mink farm. >> so, the money is kind of gone. >> you gave it all to peta. >> no, no, no, no, no, no, no. i put in a trust that will be distributed, in perpetuity, to save the children and peta and other organizations. >> fantastic. >> for two years, sam beats the clock, but his disease never relents. >> i got a call that he was in the hospital, and he had summoned for me to come to his bedside. he just said, "i'm sorry to burden you with this, but will you please take my dog?" of course, i said "yes."

>> tyson looked at me and said, "i got to do this for him. if we don't, they're gonna put columbo down." >> tyson also makes sure columbo can stay by sam till the end. >> i was asked to train columbo to climb a set of steps beside sam's bed so that columbo could get up there and sleep with him. columbo was with sam right up until he passed. i was asked to be on the property when he passed to makef the property immediately. >> why immediately? >> well, columbo couldn't be on the property with an influx of people coming in, just because it just wasn't safe. >> arguably even less safe -- bringing this strange inheritance home to your wife and kids. i have to ask you about that. i met him. he's fierce. you let them hang out with columbo? >> supervised. columbo cannot be unsupervised around my children or around anybody. when he's uncomfortable, he's grumpy. you don't want to be anywhere

around him. and i don't want my kids to be anywhere around him. and stay. >> your kids could get hurt. you're willing to take the risk. >> we make all the precautions. we make sure they're never alone with columbo. we make sure that they train him every day. and us, as a family -- we made a commitment to healing dogs and showing other families how to do it. >> a noble commitment, but who's going to pay for columbo's ongoing $138,000-a-year medical care? was there some sort of verbal agreement between you and sam? >> sam just basically said, "listen, don't worry about this. everything's taken care of." >> ruh-roh! is it possible that sam made a promise to tyson he didn't intend to keep? that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. santa's little helper, the simpsons' family dog, is what breed? the answer in a moment.

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>> so, santa's little helper, the simpsons' family dog, is what breed? the answer is "b," a greyhound homer rescues from the dog track in "the simpsons'" first episode. [ dog growls ] >> the cane corso, or italian mastiff, is an aggressive breed, sometimes called a "pit bull on steroids." columbo, a 140-pounder who belonged to "simpsons" co-developer sam simon, was actually deemed too vicious for simon's dog-rescue shelter. hollywood dog trainer tyson kilmer says one of simon's last requests was that he take columbo when simon died.

>> one thing that sam said is that, "every animal's life has value." >> tyson assumes simon's multi-billion-dollar trust will pay for columbo's costly medical treatments, including acupuncture and electromagnetic therapy. >> was there some sort of verbal agreement between you and sam? >> sam took care of everything while he was alive. when sam said, "will you take columbo?", i didn't say, "hey, how much, buddy?" i just said, "of course. i'll take care of it." >> then, in june 2015, three months after sam's death, tyson learns that those vets and therapists will no longer be paid and all those hollywood-style treatments will be discontinued. tyson reaches out to the executor of the simon trust. now, i'm a dog lover -- don't get me wrong -- but tell me how much you were asking, money-wise, to take care of columbo in the style sam had -- >> i didn't ask for money. i was asking for them to send

the vets over. i wasn't asking for money. >> come on, columbo. >> either way, tyson says he's told there's no money earmarked for columbo. >> i first thought, "it has to be a misunderstanding," but, at some point, you'd think, even if that were the case, they would have an allegiance to what sam would have wanted." >> radio host mark thompson was a longtime friend of simon's. is it possible that sam made a promise to tyson he didn't intend to keep? >> i think the answer is -- of course not, of course not. sam would have wanted money to go for the continued care of columbo. >> the executor of simon's trust doesn't return our phone calls but has ripped tyson in the media. the trustee issued a statement that we got our hands on, and it starts with, "it's truly sad that someone would try to take advantage of sam's generosity to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of other causes." >> and i'm just an outsider, but the same money that sam was

paying for columbo, when sam was alive, is all tyson is asking for. and it's about his therapy, not a dollar more. i think that's a reasonable request. >> how much is it costing you a month, besides your daily time, to take care of columbo? >> it costs me approximately $9,000, $9,500 a month to take care of him. tyson has custody of a dog that is considered very dangerous. and we have a trustee unwilling to disperse money for the dog's care. end of case? >> if they're willing to go to court, tyson might be able to assert rights on columbo's behalf and get the court to construe the trust. >> underscore "might," says ken kossoff, an l.a. lawyer specializing in pet inheritances. he says it's telling simon apparently did not set up a trust fund to pay for columbo's care, which is allowed under california law. >> you want your trust or any other document to be very clear

that who was ever in charge of the money needs to support the pet. >> case in point -- ken's client in palmdale, california, a widow who wanted to provide for her faithful companions when she was gone. hi, yvonne. i'm jamie. >> jamie, hi. how are you? >> nice to meet you. i heard you're the bird lady. >> i am that. would you like to meet my kids? >> i would like to meet your kids. >> come on. >> oh, thank you. look at all these guys. oh, hello there. who's that? >> he says, "i'm bogie bird." and he says, "i'm the senior bird here." >> bogie is a 34 year-old double yellow-head amazon parrot. while he's older than yvonne's two cockatiels, he's still a youngin' among the parrot breed, who can easily live for 60 years. when yvonne first adopts bogie from a bird sanctuary, in 2013, she worries about making a commitment to a pet that could very well outlive her.

>> at my age, i thought, "how am i gonna make this work out? these guys can live to be 60 years old. i'm not rich." >> so, will bogie become a strange inheritance? yvonne is worried that her cherished parrot will get discarded, like columbo. and what about columbo? >> it must be costing you a fortune. >> columbo's not cheap, and we never, ever, ever, in a million years, thought we'd be here. >> and? >> how can the kilmers get the funds they say they need for his care? >> good boy! you know, i agreed to take sam simon's dog. i didn't agree to take on a billion-dollar estate. >> that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> yvonne eubanks loves her parrot, bogie, who may very well

outlive her. will bogie get the special care he needs when she's gone? she turns to ken kossoff, who's been creating trusts in los angeles for over 30 years. >> a lot of pet owners do not know that they could plan their estate to include their pets. >> yvonne doesn't just want to make sure her pets always have a caring home. she wants to make sure they have her home. >> the trust provides, immediately, for a caregiver to come in, and this is someone who is familiar with my birds. they will live here in the house, basically rent-free, and they'd take care of the birds. i will take care of the utilities and all on the house. >> that could theoretically last for decades. you understand people will watch this and they'll say, "okay, you're 'the bird lady.'" >> yeah. >> "and you've left this beautiful home to birds." >> yes. i don't care how whacky they think i am. i just want to protect these guys. >> apparently, sam simon wasn't

so clear or emphatic about columbo, and so the executors of "simpsons" co-developer sam simon's billion-dollar trust reportedly have no intention of providing a penny for his care. where does that leave animal trainer tyson kilmer, to whom sam bequeathed the 140-pound mastiff? >> i've never had much interest in anything outside of just seeing columbo cared for. i really don't want to be in court over the next five, six years. i'd far rather raise funds for him and just move on with my life. >> sam was his mentor and hero. and, sometimes, you don't write the script on how it's gonna come out, but we're doing the best we can and we're gonna handle it. >> i wanted to put a call into you to see if i could rely on some support from you guys. >> today, tyson hopes to raise enough funds through a network of friends and supporters to

finance columbo's care. you made a promise. >> absolutely. yeah. >> that's a big promise. >> i'm gonna keep that promise. you know, sam was one of -- he was a mentor to me. he was one of my best friends. i'm gonna honor my word to my friend. >> bogie or columbo can only dream of the fortune of the so-called world's richest pet, a german shepherd who's really rolling in the dough. turns out that when a german countess named carlotta liebenstein died, in 1992, she left a $124 million trust for her trusty pooch, gunther iii. well, when gunther iii met an untimely death, carlotta's riches passed to gunther's son, gunther iv, and by then, the trust was worth $372 million and included a villa in the bahamas and a mansion once owned by madonna. and, at that rate, gunther v could be the first canine billionaire. i'm jamie colby for

"strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember, you can't take it with you. >> a ball club older than mighty casey... >> they were recognized as the best team of the 1860s. >> their 155-year-old baseball card... >> we are looking at a very significant piece of baseball history here. >> and she's looking at a very strange inheritance. >> he's my great-great-uncle on my dad's side. >> which one is he? >> now here's the payoff pitch. >> one of the big ones. this was a family heirloom. >> will there be joy in mudville... >> he was looking for a piece of the action, but i didn't know that. >> ...with jamie at the bat? [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪

>> i'm jamie colby, and i'm in the berkshire mountains on my way to great barrington, massachusetts. i'm meeting a woman whose ancestor played on one of the great teams in the early days of baseball. his picture is on her strange inheritance, which may just be the world's oldest baseball card. >> my name is florence sasso. my great-great-uncle archibald mcmahon was a member of the 1860s atlantic nine baseball team. i inherited this card from my mother when she passed away. >> hi. i'm jamie. >> hi. i'm florence. >> heard you have a great story and a very strange i also heard you're a new york girl. >> yes. >> i'm from queens. >> i'm a brooklyn girl. >> uh-oh. 75-year-old flo lives alone and runs an electrolysis business from her house. what a lovely home. she explains that fate has handed her a very unusual

inheritance in the form of a 2 1/2-by-4-inch antique baseball card. oh, my goodness. is this what i think it is, florence? may i touch it? >> sure. >> look at the players. 1860. >> before the civil war. >> and a relative of yours is in here? >> my great-great-uncle archibald mcmahon is in here. >> which one is he? >> we don't know. it hasn't been identified. >> well, can you make a guess on which one he might be? is there any resemblance to you or your parents? >> no. i couldn't figure it out. i was just looking at the ears, because that side of the family had big ears. >> who were the brooklyn atlantics? >> i think it's the oldest baseball team in history in brooklyn. ♪ >> at least one of the oldest, says ed elmore, captain of today's incarnation of the brooklyn atlantics. so brooklyn atlantics started when? >> they played a long time.

they were recognized as the best team of the 1860s. >> baseball before the civil war? you can look it up. the first officially recorded game is actually played in 1846. and within 15 years, the sport is on the verge of a boom. these guys practicing today in long island, new york, use the same rules and equipment as old archibald did back then. was pitching different? >> the first 40 years, actually, of baseball was underhand pitching. for the first 20 years, if a ball was caught on a bounce it was an out. it was thought of as a gentlemen's game at the very beginning just by who was playing, not necessarily by how they played. >> so who is archie mcmahon? a butcher in brooklyn is about all flo knows. that's a sign of how organized baseball is evolving and becoming more democratic. it's no longer just a game played by wealthier men --

doctors, lawyers, and bankers. and although flo can't identify which one of these gentlemen is that great-great-uncle on her father's side, we can i.d. couple of his teammates. at far left is chris smith. two men to the right is shortstop dickey pearce, who's credited with inventing the bunt. looks like a straitjacket. baseball uniforms have really changed over the years. i can see why. got to love this cap, though. take me out to the ballgame. so this is the bat. i see they're not playing with gloves. what about the balls? >> well, i have just the man to talk to for that. wild horse. >> wait. wild horse? >> that's his nickname. he runs the bases with wild abandon. >> you make those? >> i start with a rubber center, two cords of yarn. everything was handmade.

>> ready? >> all right. >> really? oh, no. no gloves. aah! oh. it didn't hurt that bad. have you heard of the name archibald mcmahon? >> he's listed in the roster of the 1860 atlantics. actually, he played center field, and he batted third. so that's an indication that he was one of the better hitters. >> after the 1860 season, however, he becomes a bit of an enigma. he may have played for a pro team in manhattan, but census records after the civil war show him working as a butcher in san francisco. after that, his only appearance in the public record is a mention in the 1928 obituary of his younger brother, john, a civil war veteran. >> in the obituary, it talks about his brother, how he loved baseball. >> the obituary reads, "he had a picture in his home of the

original atlantics team, of which his brother, archibald mcmahon, was a member." when they mention it in an obit, you know the card is a true family heirloom. flo's father, joseph, is 17 years old when his uncle john dies. it becomes his strange inheritance. but it's his wife, mildred, who keeps it safe in their brooklyn home. >> my mother had had it in a fanny farmer box in a secret drawer in a piece of our furniture. >> when florence grows up, she moves to massachusetts, gets married, and then divorced. over time, the family is drawn back together by old age and illness. eventually, flo convinces her parents to move up to massachusetts and live with her. >> the fellow i was dating at the time was an architect, and he designed an addition for us. >> how much did that cost? >> $125,000. >> did you have that money? >> no. i had to remortgage the house. >> flo's dad dies in 1995.

her mom, mildred, inherits the card. mildred is well aware flo has gone into debt and wishes she could help. but it never strikes her that she has the means until great-great-uncle archibald comes up in a genealogy class at the senior center. so he suggested that that card could be worth what? that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. who in 1888 declared baseball "the american game"? queen victoria of england, indian chief sitting bull, or poet walt whitman? the answer in a moment. t and lid i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine.

the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

♪ >> so, who first declared baseball "the american game"? if you picked walt whitman, you're right. in 1888, he wrote... [ crowd cheering ] >> long before the brooklyn dodgers and ebbets field, these guys, known as the atlantics nine, are kings of that borough's diamonds. this 155-year-old picture of the team has been passed down in florence sasso's family ever since. one of the team's stars, archibald mcmahon, was her great-great-uncle.

flo's mom, mildred, is caretaker of the card for years. she keeps it squirreled away in a candy box and takes it with her when she moves into flo's house in great barrington, massachusetts. but neither she nor her daughter knows which guy in the picture is uncle archie. what'd she tell you about it? >> she said, "put this in with your genealogy." >> in the spring of 2015, flo's been digging into their family background at the free genealogy program at the local senior center. so do you bring the card to show the class? >> i brought the card to the senior center. he said, "oh, my god. it's perfect." >> "he" is volunteer steve strommer, who runs the class. >> my interest in genealogy started a long time ago. but it's taken on a life of its own, and it's pretty much an obsession. we couldn't find too much on archibald. but that was a very old card. and she said, "how much is

this?" and i said, "well, i'll see if i can find out." >> are you thinking to yourself, "i really have something valuable here"? >> yes, i did. >> especially after steve spots on the internet an 1865 brooklyn atlantics card. it had gone for $92,000 at auction in 2013. florence's card is five years older and may be even more valuable. >> i used to wonder, "why do people jump up and down when something exciting happens?" and here i was doing that. >> pushing 101, flo's mother, mildred, isn't quite jumping up and down. but if she can help pay off the addition flo built for her, she's definitely up for some moneyball. florence, who has no children to pass the card on to, is game as well. that's when steve strommer suggests contacting an auction house. on your behalf? >> yes. he made the connection. >> i was just, you know, doing my job, just trying to facilitate getting

this card in the right hands. >> strommer takes the photo home, scans it, and sends it to chris ivy, who specializes in sports memorabilia at heritage auctions in dallas. >> when the first e-mail came in with images, i showed it to one of my other experts. and we thought, "it looks right from the images, and we are looking at a very significant piece of baseball history here." the photo was in good shape. and the overall condition of the card is very strong. >> of course, it's not exactly the kind of card later generations will collect with bubble gum and wax packs. >> there was no bubble gum involved with this card, no. i don't think bubble gum was around, actually, until the early 1900s. it's considered a carte de visite, a cdv. >> a carte de visite, or cdv, was more like a business card or a souvenir handout at a time when photography was still a novelty. >> i think it was because they were the champions of the league and were proud of that and wanted something to commemorate

it. >> while chris and his team evaluate the card, florence feels steve's way off base. he's taken control not only of the process but the card itself. i think this next part of the story goes under the heading "don't mess with a girl from brooklyn." >> was he looking for a piece of the action? >> he was looking for piece of the action, but i didn't know that. i went down to his house, and i said, "my mother would like to have the photograph back." and he said, "oh, it's safe with me." and i said, "no, and i'd like to give you some money for the work that you did at home." and he said no. >> if there was any disconnect, it was with flo, who, i guess, wanted to know if i was going to charge her anything. and she kept asking me quite often, you know, "keep track of your hours." >> i said, "just give me back the picture." >> and then, she would say, "i have to talk to my lawyer," and all of that. and i said, "fine with me." >> you had to get that card back. >> yes.

>> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. it's a timeworn tradition, but who was the first president to invite a professional baseball team to the white house? was it coolidge, taft, or grant? the answer in a moment.

♪ >> so, who was the first president to invite a professional baseball team to the white house? it's ulysses s. grant. the cincinnati red stockings, the first professional team, were grant's guests in june 1869. >> spring 2015, great barrington, massachusetts, and life's thrown florence sasso a curveball. she's in a feud with steve strommer,

the genealogy instructor at her local senior center. >> and i went to the doctor. they doubled my blood-pressure medication 'cause i was so upset about him. >> she's taken a family heirloom, this 1860 baseball card of the brooklyn atlantics, which includes her great-great-uncle archibald mcmahon, and given it to steve. it may be the oldest baseball card in existence. and he's researching its value. but it appears to florence that he doesn't want to give it back. >> you went yourself to the gentleman's house to get it? >> yes. he really wanted to hold on to it. but i didn't trust him with it. >> so essentially, he was trying to help you. he just wanted to be paid. >> yes. >> i may have half tongue-in-cheek, half joking, said, "well, i'm your agent. 10%." but i wasn't really gonna charge her with that. >> you didn't want to pay him. >> i was going to give him a generous gift. but you're not allowed to give them even five cents if they're

a volunteer of the town. >> at this point, both steve and florence learned that town employees may not receive additional income from their official duties. >> the interaction that was going on about being reimbursed was prior to my knowledge about the ethics of town employees taking money. >> so steve gives the photo back to florence. having benched steve, she reaches out herself to heritage auctions. a representative flies to massachusetts to bring the card in for authentication. heritage shows up at your house. >> within 24 hours. >> but while the auction house gets to work, flo's mother is admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. >> may 13th. she was 100 and sound of mind right till the end. and every night, she would just say, "thank you for taking care of me," and then a big smile, and she'd say, "did we get the money yet?" >> later that day, mildred sasso passes on. and what may be the world's

oldest baseball card is now florence's strange inheritance. it doesn't take long to confirm the card is real. >> given the fact that it was in florence's family for nearly 160 years, that's great provenance. and provenance is always key. >> the 1928 obituary of archibald's brother, john, provides a crucial piece of evidence of the card's authenticity. >> that newspaper obituary noted that john was an ardent fan of baseball and he had an original photo of the brooklyn atlantics. so that obituary was referring to this very card. >> remember the 1865 brooklyn atlantics card that sold for $92,000? that kind of money would go a long way to paying off the debt flo incurred when she took in her parents. is her card in that ballpark? chris ivy thinks it is and knows exactly where to find out.

>> one of the big ones. this was a family heirloom. >> that's next. so is this. all right. let's send one down the pike. let's see what you got. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

♪ >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> in 1860, florence sasso's great-great-uncle and his teammates on the brooklyn atlantics posed for this photo. 155 years later, it may be the oldest baseball card in existence. florence is about to learn just how valuable that makes it. the auction house estimates its value at 50 grand-plus. that would help cover the $125,000 she spent remodeling her home to make room for her

elderly parents. then again, another brooklyn atlantics card recently went for $92,000. an extra 40 grand would really help. in july 2015, enthusiasts from around the country gather in chicago for the national sports collectors convention. >> $9,500. now to $10,000. where are my cubs fans now? >> the highlight of the auction -- flo's 2 1/2-by-4-inch strange inheritance featuring the pre-civil war brooklyn atlantics. >> one of the big ones. this was a family heirloom. >> how proud are you when you see your family card in a catalog? >> everybody was so excited because they didn't know about baseball before the civil war. >> and it was a bit of brooklyn that you could bring to this town. >> that's right. >> you can follow the auction online, but florence is having computer problems. even so, she feels the same nervous anticipation palpable in that room. >> earliest known team card that we're aware of.

what do we have for lot 009? >> $70,000. >> $70,000. this is gonna go big. $70,000. now to go to $75,000. >> from the start, the bidding is fierce. >> we've got captains of industry and people that are millionaires, billionaires. it's just people that have a passion to collect things. >> $85,000. now to bid $90,000. $95,000 to you, sir. i go you. $100,000. now to $110,000. >> like a sandy koufax fastball, the bidding quickly blows away the $50,000 estimate. >> $110,000. now to $120,000. this is really a smithsonian-type piece here. $120,000. now to $130,000. >> most collectors go into a live auction with a game plan. but you can get enthralled with the moment. so, you know, throw caution to the wind and start bidding. >> $130,000. now to $140,000. $150,000. now to $160,000. you want $155,000? you gonna walk away for five grand? $150,000. i've got it right here. who's gonna beat him? $150,000. anyone else? $150,000. bid $160,000? who's gonna beat him? anyone else now? anyone else?

to white. $150,000. [ applause ] thanks very much. >> after the auction house commission is added, it brings the total to $179,000. and the winning bidder? >> a well-known 19th-century collector, but he didn't want to be revealed. >> the good news comes to florence from a surprising source. >> how'd you learn about it selling? >> steve, the genealogist, was following it on the internet. >> i saw the very end of the bidding for the card. and i called up flo right away and said, "this is great." >> and he called to say it was sold for $179,000. >> that beats flo's wildest expectations. >> i was just hoping to clear my mortgage, actually. >> so basically, the money that you'll get from your family card will help you defer the cost of taking care of mom and dad. >> almost to the penny. >> are you resolved now

that whatever happened in the past is the past? >> absolutely. >> it worked out okay? >> i'm very happy. >> so is steve strommer, that he and flo are friends again. >> we're like brother and sister, basically. you know, she comes in. we'll go through a little bit of genealogy, find what happened to archibald mcmahon. >> and maybe someday they'll even figure out which one of these guys really is old uncle archie. so what ever became of the old brooklyn atlantic dynasty? up until 1869, all the players were amateurs. two years later, the national association of professional base ball players was formed. but the atlantics couldn't afford the cost of the new league, so they didn't join. some of their best players took a walk and signed up with pro teams. i don't get to walk. i got to hit the ball. all right. let's send one down the pike. let's see what you got.

oh. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> an ancestor they knew nothing about... >> i went through 50-some-odd years of my life and had no clue. >> an inheritance they can hardly believe... >> what was your reaction as you opened those first boxes? >> it was mind-blowing. >> why does andrew green have george washington's will? >> bare-knuckle politics, cold-blooded murder, a legacy all but snuffed out... >> this was a cloud of suspicion of having lived a double life. >> what did they do? >> what are the chances that those boxes would've just been trashed? >> very good chance of that. >> what would you do? >> well, it drove me crazy. >> how 'bout 6,000? >> and what's it all worth? >> you think you'll ever get another auction with a story like this? >> no, i kinda doubt it.

[ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby. and today, i'm in kennebunkport, maine. it's renowned as the bush family's summer haven and also for its succulent lobster. but this story has a cast of characters that are up and down the atlantic seaboard. the heirs, they live here, a reclusive aunt from massachusetts and their gilded age ancestor once dubbed "the father of greater new york." >> i'm john green. >> and i'm lisa green buchanan. >> i think it's fair to say that our aunt julie was a hoarder. and when she died in 2009, she left us a mountain of stuff to sort through. >> oh, what a great house! >> thank you! welcome to kennebunkport! i got a story... >> john and his sister lisa belong to a new england family

whose history goes back to mayflower days but whose legacy had been largely forgotten. in 2005, that reclusive aunt i mentioned, julie green, is diagnosed with cancer, and john moves her from the boston area into a condo up here in maine, where the siblings can help care for her. it's a big job to be a caregiver. >> i never thought of it that way. she had nobody else. >> what was she like? >> she was single and independent. >> never married? >> no. >> no children? >> she did not want children. >> nor does aunt julie want anyone to get rid of all her stuff. >> even when we moved everything out of that house, we had a dumpster put in there, and she would guard the dumpster. she would make sure we wouldn't throw anything out. >> so the basement of julie's condo gets overwhelmed with stacks of boxes of books and who knows what else. john, what are the chances that, if you and your sister didn't care for aunt julie,

that those boxes would've just been trashed? >> very good chance of that. >> in her last years, the tight-lipped aunt julie does drop references to their ancestor she says accumulated much of it all. >> the only thing she would say is uncle andrew this, uncle andrew that. we'd tease her that she was living in the past. you know, you're talking about all these people that aren't here anymore, and little did we know why. >> aunt julie dies in 2009 at the age of 73. >> everything was left to my sister and myself. when we started opening boxes, we still didn't know exactly what we had at that time. >> first, they have to separate the wheat from the chaff. and there's plenty of chaff -- decades of old knickknacks, newspapers, mail, and clothing. how many boxes are we talking about? >> hundreds. >> among the boxes, lisa discovers this book which gives them a clue of what's to come. it's a family journal

going back to the 19th century. this is so cool! this is a caricature of andrew green, known as the father of greater new york. i'm from new york. i've never heard of him. did you know much about him before? >> no, we didn't. >> that's when i started to go down the rabbit hole. they learned that this guy, their great-great-great-uncle andrew green, was born in 1820 in an area known as green hill in worcester, massachusetts. >> he had 10 brothers and sisters. his father was a lawyer. they were well-off but not rich. >> 300 miles south of kennebunkport here in manhattan, historian mike miscione has pieced together the story of lisa and john's ancestor and how he left his mark here in the big apple. and while there's no skyscraper, highway, or airport named after him, it turns out there really ought to be. >> he was largely responsible

for creating the institutions that transformed new york into a world-class city. >> mike explains that, as a teenager, andrew green left massachusetts and moved to new york city. >> he worked as a clerk at a dry-goods operation, and, eventually, he decided to settle upon a career of law and came into contact with a up-and-coming lawyer by the name of samuel tilden. >> tilden is making a fortune representing railroads. he's also becoming a big shot in new york politics. >> green's dealings with tilden brought him into democratic political circles. and soon, he was involved in new york city civic affairs. >> green becomes tilden's law partner and begins making a hefty salary. instead of marriage and children, he's devoted to work. but when tough times befall his family up in massachusetts, andrew returns temporarily to worcester to take charge. >> he was able to not just

get the estate out of debt but make it prosper, as well. he became the patriarch of his family for the remainder of his life. >> great shot. is that the house? andrew figures the family home could use some extra rooms, 42 to be exact. one of those rooms is a museum showing off artifacts from the green family's history. >> there was a museum in the home for the family, not for the public. >> and how do you know that? >> this book is the story of the family and green hill. >> can i look? >> sure. >> so this is the story of the home 1754 to 1905. that's a lot of family history. >> mm-hmm. >> andrew's ready to make history himself back in new york by shaping it into a world-class metropolis. among other jobs, he heads the commission that creates central park.

>> central park, the metropolitan museum of art, the american museum of natural history. green would be largely responsible for creating the bronx zoo, the new york public library. >> there's very little green doesn't touch during new york's gilded age. in 1871, when city coffers are almost bankrupt, he becomes the city's comptroller. >> andrew green needed to be escorted by a ring of mounted policemen as he was approaching the comptroller's office on his first day of work. and this was a blood sport in this era. >> green exposes the shenanigans of new york's corrupt democratic machine, known as tammany hall, and helps send the city's notorious boss, william tweed, off to prison. oh, and one other little achievement... >> it was green's efforts to get new york to expand beyond the borders of manhattan island and to annex the municipalities around new york harbor, which included the city of brooklyn, and make that

all one giant metropolis. >> so how could his own family 100 years later not know all about him? could it have anything to do with the way green died? that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. in the presidential election of 1876, andrew green's law partner, samuel tilden, won the popular vote but lost to rutherford b. hayes. the answer after the break. ♪ ♪

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>> it's "a." among other problems, florida democrats printed ballots showing abraham lincoln's face in an effort to trick freed slaves who couldn't read into voting democratic. a special commission was set up to decide the contest, leading to the election of hayes over tilden. >> john green and his sister lisa green buchanan initially think their hoarder aunt julie has simply

left them a big headache when she dies in july 2009. but among the hundreds of boxes that filled her basement, they uncover a 19th-century journal that begins to open their eyes to the legacy of their great-great-great-uncle andrew haswell green, a man theodore roosevelt nicknamed "the father of greater new york." >> nobody told us the story. >> i went through 50-some-odd years of my life and had no clue how important he was. >> john comes to suspect that may be because of the scandal surrounding green's death in 1903. >> a man approached him and accused him of seeing his mistress and shot him in the back. [ woman screams ] >> the stranger -- his name was cornelius williams -- shot andrew green five times, killing the man instantly. he made no attempt to escape,

made no attempt to deny what he had done. >> the confessed killer claims green and a brothel owner named bessie davis were part of a conspiracy against him. newspapers across the country relish the salacious story. >> this was a very troubling, mysterious set of circumstances, and andrew green was under this cloud of suspicion of having lived a double life. >> the police determine green was a victim of mistaken identity. or was it payback from the political machine that he had taken down? whatever the case, the damage to his once-spotless reputation is done. plans to erect memorial gates in his honor at the entrance to central park evaporate. in worcester, green's mansion is sold to the city and later demolished. gradually, even his own kin forget all he accomplished and left behind, the effects of an important man boxed up in cardboard.

>> they cleaned the mansion out. and my grandfather's father took possession of all these items, and then it went to my grandfather. they were passed on to julie. >> and why julie? >> she took care of my grandparents when they got elderly. when my grandparents moved into assisted living, julie was the one that took 'em. >> and because john and lisa take care of aunt julie in her dotage, she leaves them this strange inheritance. what was your reaction as you opened those first boxes? >> it was mind-blowing, really exciting. >> there's china, tiffany silverware, coins, stamps, antique books, clothing, toys, and jewelry. and how many items are we talking about? >> thousands. >> so after tossing aunt julie's actual junk, including decades of old newspapers and mail, they reach out to richard oliver, a family friend and local auctioneer. >> we knew there was enough value

to get historians and people like richard involved. i mean, my brother and i couldn't have settled this estate by ourselves. >> indeed, richard will need an entire team to go through all those boxes and catalog everything. >> i said, "listen. john, you pay the expenses. i'll keep the buyer's premium." >> do all your clients pay up front? >> well, a good part of the time, we take 20% or whatever it might be, and we pay the expenses. >> john agrees but quickly learns he's taken a huge risk. research gets expensive. take this old hebrew translation of the qur'an from andrew green's massive library. to find out where it came from, richard must run an ad in an antiques magazine. >> somebody picked up on it, and i started getting calls from israel and calls from all over the country. >> another example -- this silver cup with a wolf's-head crest. >> it drove me crazy. i wasn't able to find out

what the crest was. >> after much effort, historian bill ralph, a member of the research team, figures out it was from a group called wolf's head. sounds like a secret society. >> and it -- in fact, it is, and it was. it was the third secret society at yale. >> fascinating stuff. but can the siblings expect a return on that kind of research? did you ever say to richard, "i got your latest bill, and we're not gonna do any more research until we sell some of this stuff"? >> i didn't put it like that, but i questioned him. "are you sure we're discovering enough things of importance to pay this bill?" and, richard being richard, "oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. don't worry about it." >> i told john i had calculated we ought to be able to do $600,000 without a problem. >> that's because his team has found plenty. check out these letters apparently given to andrew green as a gift, penned by thomas jefferson, james madison, and james monroe.

>> they were... >> originals? >> yes. >> what were the letters about? >> my favorite letter, james monroe and james madison were talking about this gentleman who happened to be andrew jackson. they were afraid that he might be the ruination of their careful plans to carry on their ideology with the american public. >> the next big find? this rare copy of george washington's last will and testament, printed in 1800, right after washington's death. >> at the time, we knew there were only 13 existing copies. >> make that 14. >> it was in a plastic bag filled with other things, and it very well could've been thrown out without anybody ever knowing about it. >> by july 2010, john and lisa's strange inheritance is cataloged and ready for sale. they've invested a year and a lot of money in it. how much had john spent getting ready for this big auction? >> it was around $225,000.

>> whoa! >> i hope we get enough out of this to pay for what we've discovered. >> will they? >> sold at $1,000. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. when andrew green was new york city's comptroller, the brooklyn bridge was partially financed by renting what? apartments atop its towers, boat slips by its piers, or wine cellars at its base? the answer in a moment. you totanobody's hurt, new car. but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back.

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even in hot summer months. >> it's september 2010, and john green and his sister lisa are preparing to auction off thousands of items they inherited from their aunt julie. many belonged to their great-great-great-uncle andrew green, the long-forgotten father of new york city. they decide everything must go -- well, almost everything. >> these are dueling pistols. when you had to settle a score back in the 1700s, these are the dueling pistols that you used and the powder flask that goes with it. >> now, why would you keep these? >> i'm a gun nut. so i thought it was kinda cool to have dueling pistols. >> the stakes for the auction are high. to appraise and catalog the collection, the greens have spent $225,000. >> every box was another -- you never knew what you were gonna get into. >> the big question now -- will the auction bring in the money they need to break even?

>> here we are. we've extended a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of resources just to get to this far. >> was it important for you to recover enough from the auction to cover your expenses? >> very important. >> lot number 22. let's start with... and how much? and get bidding where? >> john frets as auctioneer richard oliver unloads antique toys, dolls, and music boxes for just a few hundred dollars apiece. >> it was a slow start, like, "oh, boy. is this gonna come into it?" >> next on the auction block, that silver cup that bill ralph finally determined was from a yale secret society. even that only fetches 1,000 bucks. they're a long way from the 225,000k john and lisa paid up front to get their strange inheritance ready for auction and a far cry from the minimum of $600,000 the auctioneer predicted. and then, with one surprising bid, everything starts turning green!

>> none of us thought it was gonna go for what it went for. >> that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it! send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. no matter how the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

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and oral-b crossaction delivers a clinically proven superior clean vs. sonicare diamondclean. my mouth feels super clean! oral-b. know you're getting a superior clean. i'm never going back to a manual brush. >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> it's september 2010, and john green and his sister lisa green buchanan are wondering if they're going to be able to cover the $225,000 they've spent preparing their strange inheritance for auction. >> uh, we had to pay for this somehow. >> at first, the sale moves slowly and ekes out only a few thousand dollars, nowhere near what they need. what was the moment at which it picked up? >> one of the most exciting was the small hebrew book that they found. none of us thought it was gonna go for what it went for. >> the 17th-century hebrew translation of the qur'an, a gem from andrew green's

vast book collection? >> $33,000. >> that copy of george washington's last will and testament? $16,000. a single letter from thomas jefferson to president monroe? 13k. all of the presidential letters together -- just under 70 grand. 9 booklets from 19th-century india fetch 11k. a cherry tea table? $9,000. this windsor high chair goes for $11,500. the sales just keep ringing up. the final tally at auction's end -- $700,000. so were you pleased or disappointed? >> oh, very pleased. the things in that auction needed to go to people who cared for them so the general public could see it. >> in fact, the new york public library buys a bundle of letters written by green himself for only 500 bucks, a bargain for the guy who helped create the library in the first place. >> if it wasn't for him, who knows what central park would be? he brought the five boroughs

of new york together to make one city. this is a lot of history. >> we told you how john kept those dueling pistols. john's sister lisa keeps something, too -- that dusty old journal that reconnected her to the green family legacy. >> i learned a lot while we were going through this process. it's pretty astounding, and there's no way to deny where i came from anymore, the more i learned. >> in 2012, new york city finally got around to funding a small andrew green park here along the east river for $5 million. but then the city realized that the pilings along the river would need repairs, costing another 15 million. so for now, andrew green has a dog run and a beautiful view to honor him. and his story, which was in storage for more than 100 years, is finally out of the box.

i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪ >> in a wild west ghost town... a teenager stumbles upon a dilapidated gold mine... and its owner. >> she had a "no trespassing" sign at the gate. >> does she say, "i'm calling the cops," or does she pull an "annie get your gun"? >> it's the start of an uncommon relationship. >> i'm thinking, "you're a smooth operator." >> no, it was just the history i was interested in. >> next thing her family knows, the guy's getting their strange inheritance. >> i said, "i certainly hope you're on the up-and-up." >> but is this old mine spent? >> ruth, i got a lot of respect for you now. >> or could it still make him rich? >> there's still gold here. >> this is by far the hottest result that i've ever worked with.

>> holy christmas. ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm driving along the columbia mountain range in esmeralda county, nevada. i'm going to meet a man whose strange inheritance is a patch of semi-abandoned ghost town, population 268. but it used to be nevada's largest and richest city. why? well, they tell me it has something to do with the town's name. welcome...to goldfield. >> my name is jon aurich, and i inherited a gold mine. >> jon, hi. i'm jamie. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you, too. so, i made it to the middle of nowhere. can you imagine inheriting a gold mine? the heir, jon aurich, shows me

around. can i walk right up to it? >> you can. >> how far down is that? >> 1,650 feet. >> whoa! it's called the florence mine, named after the daughter of an old prospector who discovered it in 1903. >> this is the original shaft of the florence. bureau of mines estimates about 17 miles of workings underground. >> so, how much gold came out of this mine? >> about $9 million, and that was at $20.67 an ounce. >> jon tells me that to understand the backstory of his strange inheritance, i should visit the little ghost town down the hill. so i seek out veteran gold miner and local historian bob bottom. hi, i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. >> nice to meet you. jon sent me down. he said you could tell me a little bit about goldfield. >> sure. well, goldfield was discovered in 1902. >> how big a boom was there during the gold years?

>> there was a few years it was the biggest city in nevada. >> that's right! the biggest city in the state! the population was over 20,000, at a time when only 400 people lived in the sleepy outpost of las vegas. restaurants, theaters, and saloons with gambling halls are everywhere, while miners earn $5 a day, twice the average wage. what was this building? >> this here was a bank at one time. and it was a mining office also. nixon and wingfield were well-known moneymen. >> nixon and wingfield owned goldfield consolidated mines. by 1907, it's the 17th-largest corporation in the u.s. but by 1911, gold production declines rapidly, and the boom goes bust. i recall a quote from mark twain. is it true that a gold mine is a hole in the ground next to a liar? >> definitely. more money made on promotions than there has been producing

gold. >> by the mid-1920s, fewer than 1,500 people remain in goldfield, including a 24-year-old diehard gold miner named martin duffy. this strange inheritance story really starts with him. duffy believes there's still plenty of gold in goldfield, and he proves it in 1939... when he strikes it rich in a section of the florence mine that he was leasing. his haul? $160,000, the equivalent of $2.6 million today. >> i just remember martin as being a hard worker. and he was always looking for gold. >> in 1944, martin marries 29-year-old schoolteacher ruth rowe. they settle into this house, which they move so it sits right on top of the mine. ruth's niece, barbara sheffield, recalls visiting goldfield as a kid. >> i remember waking up at night, and a cow was walking down the street. and it was just a fun time.

>> martin becomes a nevada state senator, but his passion is always the florence. by 1962, he and ruth buy a 50% share in it. and martin keeps on mining, certain he'll strike it rich again. [ explosion ] >> goldfield was a magic name at the turn of the century. now, only one mine is operating. >> the duffys run an old-school operation, as you can see from this national geographic documentary from 1971. ruth lowers the winch while martin rides this tiny platform deep into the mine. >> with all the glamour and the fabulous ore that was found here, it's only natural that i'd want to find some myself. before the end, i hope to get to that pot of gold. >> not long after this film is made, duffy locates what he believes is that pot of gold, in

a part of the mine 450 feet down. but then, on august 27, 1971, he falls in the shaft. ruth calls for help and rushes martin to a hospital, but he dies the next morning of internal injuries. he is 71 years old. ruth is his sole heir. over the next decade, ruth, with no children of her own, mostly keeps to herself in this ghost town. then, in the summer of 1982, a 16-year-old from california stumbles into her life. jon aurich has come to goldfield with a friend to check out the historical sites, he says. >> i wanted to see the headframe because it was the tallest wood headframe in the state of nevada. and that's when i came up here and met ruth duffy. >> ruth, now 67, sees the teenager wandering around her property. >> ruth had a "no trespassing" sign at the gate. >> does she say, "i'm calling

the cops," or does she pull an "annie get your gun"? >> we talked about a half-hour outside. she asked me in. we played pool for about two hours. and she could tell that i was versed in goldfield history. >> the two are 51 years apart, but nonetheless, a friendship develops. by 1994, 28-year-old jon is still coming out for regular visits with ruth. >> he's become a finishing carpenter and begins restoring several goldfield buildings he's bought dirt-cheap, hoping tourism will catch on. >> to bring back some of that flavor of the past and to have tourists feel a little of that magic. >> ruth is impressed. pushing 80, she decides she wants jon to inherit her part of the florence. >> she was liking what i was doing in town, as far as restoration of the buildings. >> but as you're about to see,

ruth's relatives, including her niece, barbara sheffield, regard jon as someone who burrowed his way into a lonely old woman's life. >> she had been a widow for 25 years when she did this. she was just used to doing things by herself without seeking counsel at all. >> you're a smooth operator. >> no, it was just the history i was interested in. she was a lady you couldn't really manipulate, because she would figure you out and she would call your hand on it. >> a dispute over this strange inheritance turns nasty and ends up in court. what did she accuse you of? >> unjust enrichment, elder abuse, manipulation. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. if you stretch a single ounce of gold into the thinnest wire possible, how long would it be?

the answer when we return.

♪ >> so... the answer is "c." an ounce of gold can be turned into a very thin wire, 1/5,000 inch thick, that stretches for 50 miles. >> for decades, martin and ruth duffy live on top of this

100-year-old gold mine in nevada. she runs the controls from this hoist room, sending her husband down into the mine. it's a little creaky and old, jon. this was her office, basically. >> that was her office from 9:00 in the morning. then she would go to her house, and then around 3:30 in the afternoon, she would come and wait for the bell signal. >> may i? these are the controls? >> yes. this is the speed. >> okay. >> these adjustments are for the brake. >> let me just see if i could. so basically... oh, my gosh. so, ruth would sit here. her husband is down there somewhere, martin. she can't even talk to him, and it's like -- oh, my gosh, this reminds me of having to start a model t. [ grunts ] that's pretty good, no? >> that's it, yeah, exactly. you have arms just like ruth duffy. >> ruth, i got a lot of respect for you now. in 1971, martin took a fatal spill off a ladder inside

the mine, leaving ruth a widow. by 1995, ruth, turning 80, starts thinking about who should inherit the mine, which has produced nary a nugget of gold since martin's death. ruth has no children, but for the past decade, there's been someone else in her life -- history buff and carpenter jon aurich. because ruth wants him to help preserve her mine, jon says, she signs papers giving jon her rights to the mine upon her death. >> i was kind of shocked. and then she says, "i need something from you." i says, "well, what is it?" she says, "i need $10." >> good and valuable consideration. >> i gave her the $10, and that sealed the deal for her, because she wanted the place preserved. >> ruth's niece, barbara sheffield, worried about her aunt, travels to goldfield in 1996 and meets jon for the first time.

>> i just told him -- i said, "i certainly hope that you are honest, because i believe that all of us are accountable for our actions. and so i hope you're on the up-and-up." >> barbara believes that aunt ruth is suffering from the early stages of dementia and should return with her to colorado for medical care. >> anybody that's familiar with dementia knows, once you have something like that occur to you, you kind of nosedive down. and then you'll come back up, but you'll never come back up to where you were before. >> jon firmly believes that ruth did not have dementia when she le >> through the phone calls that i got from her for a while, she seemed sharp as a tack. >> but barbara believes jon shouldn't inherit any part of the mine. in fact, she says she and her aunt would prefer to see it become a state park. jon refuses to give up his title to it. so barbara becomes her aunt's legal guardian and sues jon.

and she signs a deed on ruth's behalf, transferring ruth's share in the mine to herself, to ensure, she says, that her aunt's intent is honored. what did she accuse you of? >> unjust enrichment, elder abuse, manipulation. >> but jon gives as good as he gets. >> mr. aurich's attorney attacked my integrity. i'd never had that done before. >> the lawsuit goes to trial in december 2001. turns out jon has an ace in the hole. >> did ruth ever explain to anybody else that she wanted you to be the one to oversee what she and martin had built? >> barni chapman. >> barni chapman is a real-estate broker whose friendship with ruth and martin duffy goes back to the 1960s. from colorado, ruth wrote to barni about the couple's long-time desire to preserve the mine as an historic site. what did you tell the judge when you were on the stand? >> "your honor, i have a letter,

and it states very simply, 'dear barni, i think i found someone that will live up to martin's wishes." and she said she trusted him. >> who was she talking about? >> jon. >> on december 5, 2001, a judge rules that barbara's petition, in its entirety, is denied. >> my aunt ruth had dementia. and i truly believe she did. but to prove that, it's just very difficult. and obviously, we weren't able to. i was very disappointed. [ crying ] oh, i'm sorry. [ sighs ] >> ruth duffy dies just six months later. jon gets to keep his strange inheritance. >> i think the judge could see there wasn't a manipulation or an unjust enrichment, because the mine was just a historical relic. >> i wonder, how can jon know

it won't produce again? technology has improved. you may be able to bring in another company, lease the mine, and have them come and pull up some of this gold for you. >> that's the lure of the gold, you know. people think, wow, it's "get rich quick." >> you have any samples around that maybe you'd let our show take and have tested? >> yes, there's some samples that martin had. they were there in the basement. he was mining a certain area that he thought looked very promising, and ruth told me about it. >> jon says this is one of those samples. it's from 1971, and one of the last martin duffy pulled from the mine before his death. remember, he thought he was on the verge of his next big strike. maybe he was. >> this is by far the hottest result that i've ever worked with. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. >> the 1849 california gold rush

spawned the phrase "49ers." how many dollars' worth of gold did the 49ers find in that first year? was it... the answer in a moment. ♪

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>> alas, martin met his end before getting to that pot of gold. but i can't stop wondering if he was about to hit the mother lode. so we go to salt lake city to ask jim stieben, a metal-processing engineer, to test a rock that jon told us martin pulled from the florence mine shortly before he fell to his death. >> the sample i received from jon aurich was only a pound in size. we crushed the material and then ground the material down to a fine powder. >> jim prepares it for what's known as a fire assay, or a test to determine how much gold is in the rock. doesn't look like much gold, but jim says, "don't be fooled." >> this could be in a very hot zone in a vein. there's no telling if that vein is 2 inches or 50 feet deep. but this is by far the hottest

result that i've ever worked with. >> had you ever had a lab in this area look at any of the samples you gave me? >> no. >> and you would be excited to know if it were what? >> 10 ounces a ton is a great number. >> how's 300? >> 300? >> 300 ounces a ton. >> holy christmas. 300 ounces is incredible. >> you know, that's interesting, because that what the lab technician, highly trained, told us. >> wow. martin was close to gold at the end of the rainbow. >> part of your strange inheritance. >> and that's strange. >> i'm perplexed. i was thinking he'd be jumping up and down. so, why isn't he? the surprising answer after the break. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail, or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

>> and now the conclusion of

"strange inheritance." >> florence mine hoist house, 1906, one of the best preserved in the state of nevada. i thought i'd make a little video of it so people could see it. >> since he inherited this gold mine in 2002, history buff jon aurich has been trying to preserve the site. and he creates dozens of videos of the artifacts he's found in it. >> here are some cabinets they used to put their tools in. this segment is about blueprints. >> yeah, yeah, all that history stuff is fine. but i guess i'm more like that old prospector martin duffy. i want to know if there's still gold down there. so i took a rock jon says is from the mine, had it tested, and was able to inform jon there was a high percentage of gold in it. >> i'm shocked. >> shocked, but apparently not overjoyed. what am i missing? well, for starters, jon tells

me, the mine would need extensive renovation before anyone could work it. it's been flooded, the gypsum walls have contracted, and the tunnels are liable to cave in. in other words, things are a lot dicier since the last guy was killed down there. oh, and in the years since he got his strange inheritance, jon's become a husband and father. if you were to go ahead and proceed with mining, when do i come back and find you still in this home of ruth's that you've preserved and maybe getting a few extra bucks for your two adorable children from mining? >> i'd have to talk it over with my wife and see, 'cause this is really a lot to digest. >> if jon wanted to do something with the mine, it is my understanding that he would have to have my permission to do so. >> then there ruth's niece, barbara, who claims a share of this strange inheritance. she's even less bullish on opening up the florence again. >> i can't honestly think of

a situation where i would want the mine to be exploited. >> with jon and barbara intent on preserving the mine as an historical site, they both fear a force that would be out of their control. >> it'll be a gold rush. >> to your door. >> yes. >> i guess i see why that worries jon, but i got to tell you, i'm thinking, wouldn't it be cool if that lab result does prove old martin was right and if this ghost town did get one more boom? then again, maybe i just caught my own case of gold fever out here. it seems the story's not over. the state of nevada says it's rerouting a highway to make room for a new gold mine way over yonder, and jon says he's fielded multiple calls from companies looking to explore the possible riches right here in his strange inheritance. sure is nice to be sitting on a gold mine. i'm jamie colby for

"strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember, you can't take it with you. ♪ >> they're cars you never heard of. >> he liked to buy unique cars -- kissels, grahams, overlands. he always used to say, "i don't want to meet myself on the road." >> it's a great hobby. keeps you out of the beer joints. >> do you have your foot on the brake, teacher? just in case? >> i haven't jumped out yet. >> these heirs hit a fork in the road... >> so that is a point of contention. do you donate cars here? do you have an auction? >> it's really tough to get every sibling on the same page. >> yeah, i'd say we're no different. >> ...until they hear an emotional voice from the past. >> when we go by his gravesite, he's probably on high spin mode up there. >> it's just money. can't take it with you.